As soon as we reached the office, Linda stormed in furiously drawing on a piece of paper as she walked.

"I once saw those symbols while I was still in college. It was our final project to study the world of politics, the symbols usually mean one thing: Blood for power. This one is no different." Linda finished, tapping the paper where she had drawn the exact same symbols we had seen and snapped.

"So you mean to tell me that our Mayor is in a secret cult, that uses blood for more power?" I inquired, feeling quite angry.

"It appears so, though we can't be certain. We can't even be sure the Mayor used this route..." David trailed off, focusing on pouring three cups of blank coffee.

"Of course, he did. Who else will use a secret passageway in the Mayor's office, apart from him? Linda said, balling her hands into fists.

"David is right, there's more to this. His wife could also know about it, the person writing the letters too...there are many possibilities. As of now, the mayor is still missing and the only thing we've got is the anonymous letter and this phone." I pointed out, turning the android phone on.

"Well, it works. Now let's see what we can find." I said, plugging the phone to the brand new laptop that sat down on my desk. We had all gotten laptops as an early Christmas gift from the Mayor, ironic.

The first place I went to was call logs, and there were mostly names I had never heard of in our town. David quietly wrote all the names with the dates, for future purposes of course. I scrolled further down and saw two familiar names: John and Claire Burrows. Claire was already dead, and John was missing. Who even owned this phone, I wondered.

We even dialled both numbers but went straight to voicemail, so we decided to go through messages which were, of course, locked.

"David, can you do the honours?" I smiled, handing the phone over to him to work his magic.

David had learnt hacking sometime in school, having decided it would be eventually useful. He proved it true as he smirked and waved the open messages.

A lot of messages from the phone were directed to Claire and John. A few were to the Mayor and even Jane.

"This phone belongs to Emily." I screamed involuntarily, widening my eyes. "There are messages from her family, and even the Burrows'."

All feeling satisfied, we stayed far after work hours to put everything together.

"So Emily was dating John and was a friend to Claire, or 'Britney'. Then next thing, Claire goes missing and John is angry with the Mayor. She tries to calm him down by agreeing to meet and what next?" Linda questioned, three cups of coffee later.

"There's still a lot of questions, why would Claire pretend, what happened between John and the mayor, what happened when they met? We really need John as soon as possible." I said, feeling relieved and confused at the same time. At least it's obvious that John was the last person to have seen Emily, but then what?

I continued, "It's few days till Christmas, and we're out here solving a mystery crime." I paused, checking the date on the calendar hanging on the newly painted station walls. "Let's go home for a rest and resume here by 6 sharp. We'll go looking for John and also the mayor."

Linda and David nodded as we moved to our respective cars and drove off.

*****

23rd December 2019

I couldn't sleep at all, even when Jack made me warm milk like I was a child. I needed to solve this case and earn that vacation with Jack, possibly even change cities. All I believed in this town was a farce, a twisting of the truth thanks to the Mayor. I had discovered so much in the last three days than in all my years in this town.

Sighing, I reexamined Emily's phone, looking for other clues, any information. I looked through the call logs, and there was nothing new...except one number that appeared frequently as a dialled number. Quickly writing the number down, I moved on and scrolled through messages and the same number had sent three unanswered messages.

'Emily, I advice you to move on from this town... it's not for you.'

'Don't be so inquisitive, it never pays.

'If you seek the truth, ask John.'

As I thought about it, it made more sense. Emily was almost uncovering everything, she got too far and went out to meet John after which she vanished. I looked at the time, if John was at home he wouldn't be gone by now. I reached over to my nightstand and collected my keys before tiptoeing out. Jack wouldn't be too happy with me, but I had to get John before he disappeared.

At 4am the city was totally quiet, one or two cars passing occasionally. All the convenience stores were closed, the only bright lights coming from the streetlights at every corner. Even houses were totally dark, including Linda's and David's. The only place still open was the dainty bar located a few blocks away from the Mayor's office, a few guys staggered out most with a girl in their arms. It was times like this you really saw that our town was just like others: good, bad and ugly. The 11pm curfew just covered it up.

After some minutes, I saw the Burrows' house and stopped, parking away from the house by a few feet. I wouldn't want to alert them, by house watching till 6am.

If I could, I would bang on their door and ask for John but it was against the rules to disturb someone's sleep. So i would watch both the front and back doors to make sure no one exited, at least until I could call Linda and David.

For 30 minutes, I stared so hard at the house my eyes started to hurt and water. After a while, my eyes started drooping and I let them until I noticed movement at the back door, it was 5.40am. I quickly called Linda and David and gave them directions, before heading out of my car to follow John himself.

I quickly scanned him from the corner of the house, he wore a black sweater with hoodie up and blackish grey sweatpants with a black converse. Of course perfect for sneaking around quickly. He also carried a black duffel bag overstuffed with possibly clothes and foodstuff. He waved his mom goodbye and quickly stepped out.

"John Burrows." I said, stepping out and making him halt his steps. He slowly turned around and began to back away.

"We need to talk."

*****

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